SYNOPSICS
Underwater! (1955) is a English,Spanish movie. John Sturges has directed this movie. Jane Russell,Gilbert Roland,Richard Egan,Lori Nelson are the starring of this movie. It was released in 1955. Underwater! (1955) is considered one of the best Adventure,Drama movie in India and around the world.
Dominic Quesada and Johnny Gray, two SCUBA divers searching for sunken treasure off the coast of Cuba, think they've hit the jackpot when they find a 17th century ship on the sea floor. They need working capital however and Johnny is ready to hock his boat but his wife Theresa thinks they're off on another wild scheme that will leave them all poorer than when they started. She comes around however and are soon joined by Gloria, whose boat they will use and Father Cannon, a university professor and archaeologist. Although Dominic hasn't been completely honest with his partners, they may in fact be in the area of a major treasure ship. When they do find it, the ship is teetering on the edge of a 300 foot cliff and dangerous for even the most experienced divers.
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Underwater! (1955) Reviews
The figure and natural wonders of Jane Russell in her last film for Howard Hughes...
"Underwater!" is a routine treasure-search adventure with Jane Russell (Theresa) in love with Richard Egan (Johnny) diving with him and with Dominic (Gilbert Roland), his best friend, in the deep blue water of the Caribbean looking for bars of gold lost in the wreck of a Spanish sailing ship... The essential point of the film is not the legendary treasure shared in part with an unscrupulous 'bandido' named Rico (Joseph Calleia) but a nice shot worth to be remembered: Jane Russell in her distinctive particular one-piece red bathing-suit moving underwater in front Sturges' camera... With a great Latin music score, and the blessing of Father Cannon (Robert Keith) for winning his gold cross, and with Lori Nelson (Gloria), the owner of the beautiful boat in love with Dominic, the film photographed in SuperScope and Technicolor, imparts a special Latin flavor, serving one and only purpose, the figure and the natural wonders of Jane Russell in her last film for Howard Hughes... Ironically another pin-up girl, and another 'Jane' was about to be born, the screen goddess Jayne Mansfield.
Pioneer Movie
I enjoy this movie very much and try to watch it periodically. As someone who took up SCUBA diving the year before this movie was made, I'd like to call attention to the fact that it is the first full length feature movie in which SCUBA was used. In fact, it was so early in the development of equipment that the tanks that they were using were smaller than the 72 cubic foot tanks that became standard for steel tanks.(There were other sizes.) Also, note the two hose regulators that are all but obsolete, the early flipper designs, and the primitive back packs. To some, the story may seem a little corny, but so were early aviation pictures and early submarine pictures. This considered, I think that the movie deserves look.
The sunken treasure
Howard Hughes was a producer that had a lot of talent for discovering beautiful women that went on to have better careers with other vehicles than the ones he decided to create for them. That seems to be the case of this John Sturges' 1955 film "Underwater!" in which the curvaceous Jane Russell starred for the last time for Howard Hughes. The film is a curious one. We are introduced to Johnny and Dominic, two underwater divers who are searching for those sunken ships in the Caribbean, especially this one, not too far from Cuba. As they stumble into the old Spanish galleon, they find a man that appears to be a sort of pirate awaiting for them because it's obvious they are after those treasures. As Johnny and Dominic go back to Cuba, we are introduced to Theresa, Johnny's wife, who is dead set against spending money chasing his dreams. But when Dominic meets Gloria, by chance, she tells him about the yacht she has been left with by a departing old flame. So the four friends, and a priest who knows about those sunk ships, go in search of the riches trapped underwater. The film doesn't bring anything new to this film genre. In fact, it's pretty tame stuff we see in a predictable story we know how it will end. The best reward for the viewers of "Underwater" is the beautiful Jane Russell at her best. She was one of the sultriest women working in films during those days. The problem is the male stars who give by the numbers performances. Joseph Calleia is the only one that shows any spunk as the man who wants the riches from under the sea.
...oops....not that I was looking for this, but..
...about 10 minutes before the end of this fun movie, the lead actors are struggling underwater, when all of a sudden Richard Egan (..or his stunt double) reaches across the front of Jane Russell (..or HER stunt double) to free her from some impeding disaster, and as he pulls away his hand he pulls down her bathing suit ever so briefly and exposes the right nipple... THIS is what HDTV wide screen technology can do..stuff that got by the editors years ago is now there for detailed and easy to see review.....DVDs make it even easier, but you have to catch UNDERWATER on cable..(..of course you can Tivo it and freeze frame whatever...)
Classic Film For 1955
This was the last picture that Howard Hughes, Executive Producer, would produce with Jane Russell. Howard produced "The Outlaw" with Russell years ago and it was a big success because it was baned by many Christian churches, because too much cleveage was exposed by Jane R. In this film, Jane Russell,(Theresa Gray),"Young Widow",'46, appears mostly in a bathing suit and shows off her body in all the right places and was the wife of Richard Egan,(Johnny Gray),"Untamed",'55, who had a great addiction to trying to find treasure and was down on his luck and just got married; so he was looking for a big find. Gilbert Roland, (Dominic),"Sonora",69 was also a skilled diver who also desired to find sunken riches from the deep coral reefs. Lori Nelson,(Gloria),"The Naked Monster",'05, was a cute petite blond friend of Dominic and played a rather dumb role. In 1955, scuba diving was a new feature and underwater films were of great interest to the public. There even was a priest who went along on the boat, who had great interest in religious relics that had sunken into the sea. There is some exciting scenes which captured the audiences of the 50's; it is truly a great Classic Film.